Jo Swinson wins back East Dunbartonshire by a landslide

David Hepburn

The Lib Dem’s Jo Swinson will be the new MP for East Dunbartonshire after beating the SNP’s John Nicolson by a large margin.

Ms Swinson received 21.023 votes, a majority of 5,339 over Mr Nicolson - who received 10 per cent less votes than in 2015, when he defeated Ms Swinson who was then the sitting MP.

The full results were:

Jo Swinson (Lib Dem) 21,023

John Nicolson (SNP) 15,684

Sheila Mechan (Conservative) 7,563

Callum McNally (Labour): 7,531

Ms Swinson said: “East Dunbartonshire voted strongly for Scotland to stay in the UK and the UK to stay in the EU and as your MP I will do my best to achieve that. In this victory I want to recognise and thank all those who put their usual party allegiance to one side to send a clear message that East Dunbartonshire does not want another divisive independence referendum. Nicola Sturgeon I hope you are listening.

She also paid tribute to murdered MP Jo Cox and the victims of the recent terror attacks.

She added: “Our elections by their nature are polarising but I am proud we can have our disagreements in a free and democratic process.

“I wont pretend I wasn’t gutted to lose two years ago. To represent East Dunbartonshire in parliament was an honour and a privilege and I so look forward to serving as your MP once more.”